S1E2: Worst of the Nest
by Megaman - Household Circuitry
Summary: Roll decides to start up a "nest egg" to help save money for emergencies. However, Megaman and co. think it would be best off kept in the bank. Meanwhile, Elecman wants help in procuring items for a bizarre online swap. Rated T for minor language, and a scene with implied dirtiness.
1. Chapter 1

It was an average Friday afternoon in the house that Megaman, Roll, Protoman, Tempo, and Bass called home. Roll was busy searching for loose change. When she found something, she placed it in an open glass jar on the counter. At one point, however, she appeared to have run out of places to look. "Hey, uh… Tempo?" she asked, as the tall, brunette LMN model passed her by. "Can you help me out with something?"

"Sure," Tempo answered. "What do you need?"

"I'm putting together a nest egg so we can save money. You have a built-in metal detector, correct?

"Yes. Do you need me to track down any loose change?"

"Exactly. Tell me if you find anything, OK?"

"OK." Tempo morphed into her Quake Woman armour, and activated her metal detector. It emitted a series of slow beeps as she searched the house. Eventually, as she neared the couch, the beeps started getting faster. She stuck her hand between the cushions, and the beeps got even faster. "Oh! Found something," she announced as she pulled out a handful of loose change.

"What is it?" Roll said, approaching Tempo.

"Hm…" Tempo counted up the money that sat in her hand. "Five, ten, twenty, twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five cents. And a piece of old string that looks like it's been buried in there for who knows how long." She pulled the string out from amidst the coins. "Tango, no!" she scolded the green robotic cat who was attracted to the string.

"That's OK. I'll throw it out," Roll said, taking the string. "You keep searching."

Tempo continued to scan the house for money. "OK… I got two more dimes, but that's it," she said, offering Roll the dimes and morphing out of her armor and into her civilian form.

"That's all right. I'll put it in." Roll went back to the jar, unscrewed the lid, put the money in, and screwed the lid back on. "There. Now, doesn't that look beautiful?" She patted the top of the jar.

"Yeah… Why do we have this jar full of money again?" asked Tempo.

"It's called a nest egg," explained Roll. "We put some money into a jar in case we need it, and until that time, we don't touch any of it."

"What if it was an actual egg instead of a jar, though?" Tempo thought aloud.

"That's not a bad idea, actually. But what would happen if we had to break into it? Then we couldn't put it back together as easily. Maybe that would be for the best, but for now, we've got this nice little jar."

"And how much is in there?"

Suddenly, Roll started acting overprotective. "Why should I tell you? If I say it's a large amount, you might be inclined to take some. If I say it's small, you'll dismiss it as no big deal, and you'll take all of it."

"Relax, Roll. I wasn't going to take any in the first place," Tempo said, defensively raising her hands and barely leaving any space between her words. "I was just curious."

"You say that now, but wait until the temptation comes around," Roll responded, shaking her finger at Tempo.

"Whatever. Forget I said anything," Tempo said, leaving the room.

Suddenly, the three remaining members of the household came downstairs. They were discussing going downtown for a little while. Surprisingly, Bass wasn't making any effort to agonize Megaman and Protoman, despite the fact that he only bought his way into the house for that purpose. All three were in civilian form - which was understandable, considering they were going into a well-populated area where a small yet vocal percentage of the population held a firm distrust of robots.

"Sure. I'm a bit short on money, though," Megaman said as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"How can you say that when there's a conveniently-placed jar full of money right in front of you?" Bass snarked, pointing to the jar of money that Roll and  
Tempo had added to.

"Wha… Hey, when did that jar get there?" Megaman asked. He began unscrewing the lid. "Good thing someone noticed it, or else-"

"What are you doing?! Don't touch that!" Roll shouted, shooing Megaman away and snatching the jar.

"Whoa… What gives, Roll?" Megaman asked, startled and confused.

Roll calmed down rather quickly. "That's our nest egg," she began. "I should probably explain. I decided to start up a nest egg just in case we run short on money in an emergency."

"Isn't that what the bank is for, though?" Protoman asked.

"Well, it's always good to have some easily-accessible cash around, though," Roll countered. "What if you can't get to an ATM? What if the power cuts out all over town and the banks are closed because of it?"

"You have a point," Megaman said. "But can we please just take, like, 7 bucks out of the jar? I promise it's not that much."

"And what if we need to use the nest egg, and we come up 7 short?"

"Then I'll pay for the rest of it. Come on, Roll, just let us-"

"No," Roll said firmly. "That nest egg is not to be opened by anyone until I say it's OK."

"Fine," Megaman sighed. He turned to the rest of the group. "Looks like we're gonna have to pony up." He started discussing how they should split up their  
money. But it wasn't long before they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," Roll said. She opened the door to see a familiar face. The visitor wore a thin black jacket over a red shirt, black slacks, and tannish-gold loafers. His jet-black hair hung in chin-length strands framing his face, and he wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. Despite his human-like appearance, Roll was able to recognize him as one of her Light-built brethren. "Elecman! I wasn't expecting you. Come on in." She held the door open, inviting Elecman inside. "Hopefully you don't mind if it's a little messy."

"I'll try not to think about it," Elecman said, entering the house and seating himself on a couch.

"Hey, Elecman," greeted Megaman. "How are things back at the lab?"

"Same as always. Now that you guys are out of the lab, Auto's been taking care of a lot more stuff. He's efficient, but a bit scattered. Luckily, the rest of the crew does their bit to pitch in, and that takes care of whatever he misses."

"We were gonna go downtown for a little while. Wanna come with us?" Megaman asked.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt," Elecman replied, before pausing a bit. "Do I have to pay for anything?"

"Hmm… Maybe just a little bit."

"Unfortunately, I don't have any money on me at the moment. Perhaps I could borrow some from the jar I saw on the kitchen counter." Elecman got up and  
started going up to the jar, but Megaman stopped him.

"Sorry, bro," Megaman said. "Roll doesn't allow anyone taking money from that jar."

"Yeah," Bass spoke up. "Apparently, it's a 'nest egg', which I think is code for a stash that only she can take from."

"That's not true!" Roll said defensively. "I'm not going to take anything from there. If I did, it wouldn't make much sense for me to enforce the rules."

"She's got a point," Megaman said.

"Don't worry, Elec. I'll pay for you," offered Protoman.

"Thanks, Protoman," said Elecman. "Do I have to pay you back?"

"No. It's not that much money."

"OK, thank you. I would say I've been saving up for something, but it's not in the monetary sense. I'll tell you when we get there."

"Hm… Sounds interesting."

* * *

The four eventually arrived downtown. They found an empty table in the square where they could talk without causing that much unwanted attention. Once they sat down, Megaman immediately asked Elecman about what he intended to save up for. Elecman sent an advertisement he found online to everyone else

"Right here," Elecman said, pointing to a picture of an electric guitar. "Gibson Explorer '76. And we're talking actual '76, not the re-releases. Maple body and neck, rosewood fretboard, Duncan pickups…" He sighed. "Looks beautiful, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, and I bet it'd play just as good, too," Protoman agreed. "One would only imagine the cost, though… I mean, authentic '76 Gibson? That's gotta go for at least a thousand."

"That's the thing," continued Elecman. "Apparently the guy who's selling it isn't really selling it so much as swapping it in for something. 200 'somethings', to be precise. Here's what the description says. Will trade for 200 uniform, non-monetary, non-natural items. That means not only no money, but also no leaves, seeds, stuff like that."

"Yeah, well, if somebody will trade 200 compost items for a well-made instrument, you're looking at a screwball for sure," commented Bass.

"I had 200 screws laying around, and I talked to the guy selling it, saying that when I buy stuff from Auto, I pay in screws," Elecman said. "But he vetoed that because since I use them as money in other situations, it automatically counts as a monetary item."

"But the thing is, why is this guy asking for random junk instead of money?" Megaman asked.

"It's the Internet, Megaman. Anything can happen," Protoman answered. "Especially on potentially sketchy shopping sites like this one."

"So if you guys can find any assorted junk items, feel free to bring them over," Elecman said.

"But why?" asked Bass. "You have a job, don't you? Can you not pay for another one with actual money?"

"Do you not know how much these things cost with actual money? Especially vintage models…"

"Or maybe you could trade one of your less-played guitars in," suggested Megaman. "'Cause you do already have four guitars."

"Yeah, well, one's an acoustic, and another's a seven-string, and the other two I use just about equally," Elecman answered. "So I don't know when I'd need one that I may have traded in."

"OK. Well, if we can find anything, then we'll ask if you need it."

"Thank you. Remember, the items have to be non-natural, so no plants or anything like that. Also, screws are out since we use them to pay for Auto's services. And they have to look about the same, too."

"All right. Thanks for the tip."

"You're welcome."


	2. Chapter 2

"Listen, I still don't see why you're putting a big jar of money out in the open if we're not allowed to use it," Megaman said. "Wouldn't it be easier to put it in a bank account?"

"But what if the power goes out?" responded Roll. "We wouldn't be able to go to any ATM's or banks. That's why we need a stash of cash for emergencies."

"Yeah, but how much have you got in there?" Megaman asked. "Surely an emergency's not gonna cost us too much."

"That's for me to know, and for the rest of you to find out when we actually have to open it."

"Oh, come on! Are you so paranoid about us opening the jar that you won't even let us know how much is in there?"

"I'm not paranoid," Roll protested. "I just know that if I say how much there is, you'll take it out. If I say it's a large amount, you'll take some because you don't think it'll affect what's in there. If I say it's a small amount, you'll take it just to spite me."

"Well aren't you kind, thinking about me," Bass said sarcastically.

"Can't we at least put some of our own money in?" Megaman persuaded.

Roll paused to think about it. "On the one hand, that would be helpful in case we end up needing extra," she said. "But on the other hand, it would probably just be an excuse to take some out, and not even put your own in."

"Yup. She's paranoid," said Bass.

"But can we at least put some money in while you're around to witness it?" asked Megaman.

"I don't see why not," Roll said, shrugging. "Get what you need, and I'll be waiting."

Megaman went up to his room, grabbed some money, and went back downstairs to the rest of the group. "OK, I got five right here," he announced, showing Roll the money.

"Good," Roll said upon seeing the money. Then she stuck her hand out, as if expecting something to be placed in it. "Hand it over," she said.

"But I thought you said we could put our own money in the jar," Megaman said, confusedly handing the money over.

"If by 'put money in', you meant 'contribute to the nest egg', then yes. But I'm the only one allowed to physically put the money in," Roll said, placing the money in the jar.

"OK, now you're just being petty."

"Petty? Maybe, but you wait until something happens," Roll cautioned, walking out of the room for a moment.

"OK, this 'nest egg' is really dumb," Bass said once Roll was out of earshot. "I swear she's using it as a private cash stash and just putting the jar out in the open to taunt us. I say we just smash the God-forsaken thing." He approached the jar, as if carrying out his intention to destroy it, but Megaman stopped him.

"Don't!" exclaimed Megaman. "Roll's gonna get mad at us, and you know what she's like when she's mad."

"I don't fear your sister," Bass said, trying to get around Megaman and closer to the jar. "Let's smash it right now."

"Actually, I'm gonna agree with Megaman on this one," Protoman spoke up. "I know from experience that a supply of emergency money is a good thing to have. Sure, it would be a much better idea to put it in a credit account, especially in this day and age, but I can't count the number of times leftover money saved my life during my travels."

" _Money_ didn't save your life, Protoman," Bass said, glaring at the eldest Lightbot. "It was _you_ who saved your own life by choosing to use the money."

"Whatever, if we're gonna argue about semantics," Protoman answered, shrugging.

Suddenly, Tempo came down the stairs, with some money in her hand. "Hey, guys," she greeted the rest of the group. "So I heard you put some extra money into the nest egg? I've got some right here that I wanna put in."

"Well, if we wanna argue about semantics…" Megaman said, hinting at the fact that Tempo probably wouldn't be able to put the money in herself.

"I don't wanna do that," Tempo said, unaware of what Megaman was alluding to. She picked up the jar and opened it up. "I just wanna put some money in-"

"Tempo! What are you doing?" Roll exclaimed, having just come back into the room and caught Tempo opening the jar.

"I just wanted to put some money in the nest egg. See?" Tempo held up the money she was going to put in.

"How should I know if that money's yours, or if it was lifted from the jar?" Roll asked, eyeing Tempo skeptically.

"Just count the money in the jar. It shouldn't have changed since the last time it was added to, right?"

"Hmph…" Roll took the jar and counted up the money. It appeared to be the same as what it was just after Megaman gave his money. "OK, you win this time," she said. "But next time, make sure you ask, OK? Don't want anyone stealing anything."

"But why would I want to steal money if I was gonna put it in?" Tempo was just as confused as Megaman at this point.

"You could be using your own money as a cover-up."

"But what does that mean? If I took money out, and then replaced it with my own money, that'd be pointless."

Roll sighed. "Never mind, you don't understand." She took the jar. "I'm gonna hide this. If anyone sees it, think nothing of it." She left the room.

"Wow, Roll's awfully protective of that jar," Tempo mused.

"She just wants a private stash that only she can use," Bass said. "Just think about it - she took that opportunity to steal money from you with no chance of giving it back."

"She didn't steal anything! I was gonna give it to her," Tempo explained.

"Yeah, well, what if you want it back?" countered Bass.

"It wasn't that much money in the first place."

"Hold up. I got a comm link coming in," Megaman said. He answered the call. "Hello?"

"Hello," Elecman said from the other side of the comm link.

"Hey, Elec. How's the item search coming?"

"Not bad. I found 25 small, silver paperclips laying around the lab, just like this, and they all look fairly decent." Elecman transferred an image of the paperclips to Megaman over the comm link. "I was wondering if you have any others that I might be able to use."

"Sure. I'll check the junk drawer. Small and silver, right?"

Mm-hm.

Megaman opened a drawer below the kitchen counter and began searching for the paperclips. He was able to find a lot of standard-sized paper clips, but the smaller ones that Elecman wanted were less easily found. "OK, I found… four," he said, counting up the ones that he managed to find amidst the rest of the clutter in the junk drawer.

"Four?" Elecman said in disbelief. "Surely there must be more around your house. Try checking in other places."

"Proto?" Megaman called. "Would you mind looking in the pantry?"

"Got it." Protoman got up and checked the pantry just outside of the foyer. He moved several items around, rummaged through containers, and used his Proto Buster as a flashlight in order to get a better look.

"One sec. I got Protoman on search duty," Megaman told Elecman.

"OK, there doesn't seem to be anything," Protoman announced as he continued searching. "No, wait… I got one." He held up the paperclip to show everybody else, before putting it with the others and resuming his search. "Hmm… Found another." Once again, he put the paperclip with the rest and continued searching. This time, however, he found something that he didn't expect to see. "...Wait a sec." He took it out of the pantry and showed everybody else. "This is-"

But Roll cut him off, as she discovered he was holding up the nest egg that she had hidden. "What are you doing in there?!" she shrieked. "That's the nest egg! And it's been only a few minutes since I hid it." She gave Protoman a reproachful stare. "Tsk-tsk. You are just too nosy, aren't you?"

"Hey, take it easy, Roll," Protoman said calmly. "I wasn't looking for the nest egg. I just came across it by accident when I was searching for paperclips."

"That's what you say," Roll answered, not believing Protoman. "But I know better."

"No, seriously." Protoman tried to hold his ground. "Megaman, come over here. And keep Elecman on the line."

"Hm?" Megaman approached Roll and Protoman.

"Tell her that I didn't intend to be snooping for the nest egg," said Protoman.

"Well, you _found_ the nest egg," Roll pointed out.

"Not on purpose. I found it while I was looking around for paperclips so Elecman could pay for that guitar on the Internet."

"Paying for a guitar online in paperclips?" Roll's glare deepened. "That's the worst excuse I've heard in a long time."

"No, you don't understand," Elecman spoke up, trying to explain better. "The guy who posted the offer said he wanted 200 uniform, non-natural, non-monetary items to be swapped for a '76 Gibson Explorer. I'll forward it to you if you don't believe me."

"I don't care," Roll said, still not buying it. "I just want you to stay out of the nest egg. Is that so hard?"

"Well, maybe if you get a credit account, it'd be much easier to keep us out and save money," Megaman told her. "We've been trying to tell you."

"Or maybe just be honest and take it up to your own room, so we know that it's your own private cash stash," Bass yelled from the other room.

"Maybe I will do that," answered Roll.

"So you admit that it's just a stash of money that you're hogging?" challenged Bass.

"No, it's not! Just because I don't want any of you in it doesn't mean that it's exclusively for me."

"Whatever," said Protoman. "I'll look somewhere else. Forget we ever saw it."

"I'm hiding this thing again," Roll announced, picking up the jar and going upstairs. "Don't follow me."

"OK," Megaman called back. Then he turned back to the comm link. "Sorry you had to go through all that, Elecman."

"It's all right," Elecman answered. "Look, I'll just buy a 200-set of those paperclips and see if he'll accept them. Might be best to save you from all that trouble."

"Good call. Hope everything goes well. See you sometime, kay?"

"Thanks. Goodbye." With that, Megaman and Elecman hung up.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, any tensions between Roll, the rest of the group, and the nest egg appeared to have been settled. When Roll was out of earshot, Bass had griped a few times that she was "hoarding all the money for herself", but other than that, there were no contentious moments involving money.

"All right, everyone. I have to go out to run a few errands," announced Roll. "I trust you're not going to be searching for the nest egg, right?"

"Nope," Megaman answered. "Well, at least, not actively. If we just so happen to find it, we'll leave it alone."

"I hope so," Roll said, looking Megaman straight in the eye. "I'll be home in about two hours, OK?"

"OK. Bye."

Roll stepped out the door. Protoman walked up to the front window, keeping an eye on her to make sure she left. When he was certain she was gone, he approached the rest of the group. "So, I was thinking…" he began, before Megaman abruptly interrupted him.

"You're not gonna try to break into it, are you?" Megaman said, miffed at Protoman's potential suggestion. "I thought you were better than that."

"No, no. Hear me out. I was thinking about what would happen if we found the jar, but didn't take anything out or put anything in. Instead, what we do is attach a note to the top of it that says 'To be placed in the bank by' such-and-such a date. And when that day comes, if she still hasn't put the jar in credit, we put it in for her." He paused for effect. "Even if it means breaking into it."

"So basically, you're gonna manipulate her into putting the jar in the bank," Megaman replied, with a concerned look on his face.

"'Manipulate' is kind of a strong word," said Protoman. "I was thinking more like 'put an idea into her head, and if she doesn't catch on, we just cut the knot and do it ourselves'. Know what I'm saying?"

"Maybe we should leave out the part about forcibly putting the jar in the bank for now," Megaman decided. "But I like the idea of suggesting that she put it in by a certain date."

"OK, so we cut out the last part but everything stays the same." Protoman turned to the rest of the group. "We good?"

"Good," Tempo answered.

"Yup," Megaman said, more satisfied with the revised plan.

"I liked your first idea better," Bass responded, turning his head to the side.

"So what's a good day to set as the 'due date'?" Megaman asked.

"How about two weeks?" said Tempo. "That way, it gives her time to think about it, but we're not waiting for an eternity to get it in the bank."

"Sounds good. I'll write it down," Protoman said, picking up a pencil and taking off a sticky note. " _To be deposited by May 31, 20XX._ How's that?" He showed the note to everyone else.

"Pretty good," said Megaman. "But now we have to find the jar. She's probably hidden it somewhere else in the house."

"… What if she put the nest egg in a place where it's most susceptible to being broken into, but nobody knows about it yet?" Protoman suggested.

"Like where?"

"Nowhere out in the open, I hope," quipped Bass.

"No, but it's funny you should speak." Protoman turned to look at Bass. "Because I think it might be in your room."

Bass scoffed in disbelief. "Why?"

"Because you're the one who's most likely to break into it, and she figured that the least likely place you'd look is in your own room."

"Sounds dumb. I think it would be in her room, because it's _her_ stash. Don't know why she'd wanna put something she stole into my room. Maybe she's planning her next heist early?"

"Roll is not trying to steal other people's money, Bass," Megaman said defensively. "Sure, she's being extremely possessive, but she wouldn't outright _steal_ from us."

"Well, how about if we try both rooms?" Tempo tried to offer an idea, as well as break up a potential argument between the two rivals.

"Good idea, Tempo." Megaman led the rest of the group up the stairs and down the hallway. At the end, there lied a tightly-closed door. Behind that door was Bass's bedroom. It was much smaller than the other residents' rooms, because it was originally intended as a guest room. But there was still enough room for the possessions that Bass brought over on his first night. A few dusty flags covered the walls, and some repair supplies were scattered on the top of the dresser. Treble, Bass's robotic canine companion, was lying curled up at the foot of the bed. When the group came in the room, he opened an eye to look at who was inside, then closed it again.

"Hmm… Now where would someone hide a jar full of money?" Megaman wondered aloud, looking around the room. It felt even more cramped now that almost the entire household was inside.

"Well, you're not gonna find out yourself," Bass said firmly. "The only one allowed to touch anything in here is me."

"Then why don't you start looking?"

"Hmph. I was gonna do that anyway," Bass sighed. He opened his closet and started digging through the clutter that was inside. Most of what he pulled out was spare parts or civilian attire. But among all that, there was a magazine with a rather lewd-looking drawing of a young woman on the cover.

Protoman picked up the magazine and began skimming through it. "Hahaha… What is this-"

"PUT THAT DOWN!" Bass screamed, knocking the magazine out of Protoman's hands. "That's not even mine. I have to give it back to Flashman."

"Doesn't change the fact that you at least somewhat like looking at this stuff," jeered Protoman.

"Screw off." Bass took the magazine, stuffed it back in the closet, and continued on his search for the hidden nest egg.

"Find anything?" Tempo asked.

"What does it look like?" Bass shot back. "Hang on…" He pulled a few more items out of the way, and then he spotted the familiar money-filled jar. "Ha! Right here." He picked it up and showed it to everyone else.

"All right," Megaman said approvingly. "Now we just slap on the note, and leave it alone until she finds it again."

"I'm home!" Suddenly, Roll's voice could be heard from the bottom of the stairwell.

"Oh, no," shuddered Megaman. "Quick! Bass, put the note on the jar." He handed off the note to Bass. "The rest of us will go to greet her." With that, everyone expect for Bass scurried down the hall and stairs to meet with Roll.

Bass hung back until everyone else had gone. He stared at the jar, then at the note in his hand, then back at the jar. He decided this would be an ideal time to filch a small amount of money. After all, in his mind, Roll was stealing from everyone else, so he thought it would be a good idea to take some back. He snuck a twenty-dollar bill from the jar, slapped the note on the lid, screwed it back on, and left the room.

"Hey, Roll," said Megaman. "How'd everything go?"

"Just as usual." Roll glanced back at the rest of the group. "Where were you?"

"We were just upstairs."

"And where's Bass?" Roll asked, noting the Wilybot's suspicious absence.

"He's still up there," Megaman answered.

"I hope he's not doing what I think he's doing," Roll said, starting upstairs. But she was immediately greeted by Bass himself at the top of the stairs.

"What are you talking about?" Bass asked, trying to act innocent.

"Were you in the nest egg?" Roll said inquisitively, hands on her hips and frown on her face.

"What makes you think I was?" countered Bass.

"Well, you were in-" Roll started to justify her suspicions, but she realized that doing so would give away the location of the nest egg. Not that it mattered, as Bass had already managed to locate and take out some of what was in there. "No, I can't say that." She started moving towards Bass's room. "Just let me in for a sec."

"Wait, what are you-" Bass tried to stop Roll, but it was too late. She had already discovered the jar, now with the note on its lid.

"What's this on the jar?" Roll asked suspiciously, picking it up and examining it. "'To be deposited by May 31, 20XX'? But this is Protoman's writing. Everyone, come over here!" she called. "Were all of you involved in this?" she said sternly, as the rest of the group filed in.

"Um… yeah," Megaman confessed. "We thought it would be a good idea to put that note on the jar to sort of… put an idea in your head, you know? Give you enough time to think about putting this jar in a credit account?" He let out a sheepish laugh. "I know it sounds kinda weird, but I didn't come up with the idea."

"I did," Protoman spoke up from the back of the room.

"Hmph," Roll scoffed. "And how much did you take from the jar, dare I ask?"

"We didn't take anything!" Megaman exclaimed. "At least, not me, Tempo, or Protoman. If anything was taken out of there, Bass was probably the one who did it."

"Why do you blame me for everything?" Bass complained.

Roll silently counted up the money. "OK, we're 20 dollars short from last time," she told everyone. "That means one of you took money out of the nest egg." Her eyes scanned past all of her housemates. "Unfortunately, since none of you are willing to own up to it, I'm gonna make sure you all make it up to me. I want all of you to get 20 from each of your own wallets, and put it in. Come on."

Surprisingly, nobody objected to Roll's consequence. They all went into their own rooms, and came back with a fresh, crisp $20 bill in their hands. Presumably, they all had more money than this, and paying $20 wouldn't put that much of a dent in their pockets.

"Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" Roll said, putting the money in. "Whoever took the money paid it back, and we also have more in the jar."

Bass got up and turned to Roll. "OK, I'm officially calling BS on this whole 'nest egg' ploy," he told her. "I see it's just a cheap excuse for you to hoard money in front of us, and even go as far to take it from us right in front of our faces."

"But the reason why I asked for 20 from all of you was because I didn't know who took the first 20 out, so I thought all of you should make up for it, because I knew none of you would admit you did it," explained Roll. "Plus, it's not a cheap punishment. You all did your part in saving money for any unexpected household expenses. Unwillingly, maybe, but you still did it."

"Look, Roll," Megaman pleaded. "Bass may have the wrong idea. But we think you should still transfer all of this money into a bank account. It's gonna be a lot more secure, you'll never have to worry about where you hid it last, and you might even be able to get the bank to add on it the longer it stays."

"No," Roll said, crossing her arms and sticking her nose in the air. "The most likely time we'll need to pay unexpected expenses will be a power outage. Doesn't matter if it's a tornado, a blown fuse, a city-wide blackout. If anything happens, it's probably gonna have to do with the power going out. And if the power goes out, all the banks are probably gonna be closed up. So that's why we need spare cash in physical form." She looked at everyone else. "You understand me?"

"...OK," Megaman said after a long silence. "No use arguing with you, I guess, since that's the only thing you're gonna fall back on."

"Good." Roll got up, picking up the jar. "Now I'm gonna hide this thing again. Same rules as last time apply. Everyone got that?"

Everyone agreed, and then left Bass's room. On the way out, Protoman received a comm link. He answered it. "Hello?"

"Hello." Elecman's voice came in on the other side of the comm link.

"Hey, Elecman," said Protoman. "So how'd the paper clip mission go?"

"Well, I went to try and pick it up today using the paperclips as payment," answered Elecman. "The thing is, though, I had them all linked to each other in a chain, so I wouldn't lose any." He sent a picture of the linked paperclips to Protoman over the comm link. See?"

"Mm-hmm."

"But get this." Elecman's voice took on a somewhat aggravated tone. "The guy wouldn't accept them because they were all on one chain!"

"That's dumb," Protoman said, just as upset with the seller's decision as Elecman was. "There were 200 clips on that chain, weren't there? So why can't he just unlink them like any other person would?"

"I don't know either," Elecman answered, still upset. "I unlinked them right in front of his face, to prove that they were individual items. But he still wouldn't accept them, because he said they had to be unlinked when they were first shown!" He sighed exasperatedly. "I don't know what I should do. I asked if I could come tomorrow after work, with the paperclips unlinked. But he didn't go for that, either, because they were 'first' shown in a chain, and he's not willing to let that one time go!"

Protoman paused for a second. "Look, wouldn't it be easier to just pay with cash?" he asked. "I know it's a lot of money, but keep saving, and you can find one just like it on an online auction."

"But you don't understand," said Elecman. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When the '76 Explorer's prices are upped for inflation, this is one of the best deals you can find online. And that's only taking inflation into account, before the sellers jack up the prices even further just to see how much someone will pay."

"Well, maybe there's gonna be another guy online who wants to trade a good-quality guitar for a set of idiosyncratic items, but isn't so nit-picky about what you can and can't bring in," Protoman replied. "Although maybe the non-natural part is a good criteria to keep in there. Wouldn't be too happy if someone dumped off their dead insects for a guitar of that caliber."

"You're right," Elecman said. "If I find anything more, I'll ask you for help on it. Bye for now."

"Bye." Protoman hung up.


	4. Chapter 4

"Twenty dollars from each of us… That's 80 dollars in all that she stole from us," Bass said angrily, as everyone except Roll came downstairs. "You guys have got to realize that she's robbing you blind."

Megaman stopped halfway down the stairs. "She's not robbing us," he said, trying to defend his sister. "Sure, she said we had to give it up because she didn't know who it was and thought none of us would admit it, even though only one of us actually did it. Who was it, even? Not me."

"Me neither," Tempo said.

"I didn't take anything," Protoman affirmed.

"What are you staring at me for?" Bass asked, realizing that Megaman, Protoman, and Tempo were all giving him disapproving looks.

"You took it, didn't you?" Megaman pointed at Bass. "You were the last to leave the room when Roll came home, so that's a pretty damning piece of evidence."

"You know, I didn't expect that kind of language coming from your face," said Bass.

"I didn't mean it as a swear," Megaman explained. "I meant it as a synonym for 'condemning'."

"Whatever, Mr. Clean-Cut McGoodboy," Bass said dismissively, turning his head away.

"We're getting off topic," Megaman said, leading the group down the rest of the stairs. "All I'm saying is that-" Suddenly, he stopped, noticing that the nest egg was sitting right on the kitchen windowsill, right where everyone could see it. "Hang on. Is that…?" He went closer, in order to confirm his suspicions. "No way Roll would leave the nest egg out in the open like this."

"It's probably a trap. We should leave it alone," said Tempo.

"Yeah, you're right."

"A trap? Pffft," huffed Bass. "What kind of 'trap' would your goody-two-shoes sister be able to set?"

"She might have an alarm set up that'll go off if we touch the jar," Megaman said. "Or maybe she's watching us from a hidden camera."

"And how would she have access to those things?" Bass responded. "This isn't the lab, you know."

"Maybe you brought them over," Protoman said with a smirk on his face.

"Shut up," Bass said dismissively.

"Well, either way, we probably shouldn't do anything to it. You know what happened last time we got caught, and she's probably gonna step up the ante," Megaman warned.

"Come on. You're _that_ scared of what your sister's gonna do to us?" Bass said.

"No. I'm just saying that maybe we should do her a favour and let her keep this nest egg in peace, without any interference."

"Then why'd you bring up the part about what she did to us?"

"Because you don't want anything to happen, do you?"

"Well, that only happened because we got caught. And if we manage to get some money without being caught, then nothing's gonna happen."

"You don't know that."

"Oh, yeah? Just watch me." Bass approached the nest egg, determined to do something to it, whether it be to just take a bit of the money out, take all of it, or just outright smash it. Nobody else was completely sure of his intentions.

"Bass…" Megaman cautioned. But sure enough, Bass wouldn't listen. Just as Bass extended his hands to pick up the jar, the "jar" revealed itself to be a Metool in disguise.

"What?!" Bass exclaimed, shocked at the Metool revealing itself behind the jar. "What the hell is a Metool doing here? Moreover, how did she manage to find and reprogram one?"

All of a sudden, the Metool jumped down from the windowsill, onto the counter, and finally down to the floor. Instead of attacking anyone, however, it started running away.

"It's getting away," Tempo noted. "Should we follow it?"

"Sure, why not? I didn't pick up any hostile signatures." Megaman beckoned to the rest of the group. "Let's go!"

The Metool repeatedly headbutted the back door, as if it wanted to be let through. At this point, Megaman was unsure to open the door, or to let Roll come by and see what happened. But after a few more knocks from the Metool, Roll opened the door.

"I should've known," Roll sighed, face-palming. "You guys just can't contain yourselves, can you?"

"Well, I tried to tell Bass that it was a trap, but he wouldn't believe us," said Megaman.

"Furthermore, where have you been getting Metools from?" Bass demanded to know. "They're valuable ground forces, you know."

"I was able to reprogram this guy about 5 years ago," Roll said, picking up the Metool and patting it on its helmeted head.

"So you admit you're both a hoarder _and_ a thief."

"I'm not trying to hoard or steal anything. I just want to keep a nest egg without any interference, and I felt I had to take some extra measures."

"OK, this is clearly getting out of hand," Megaman said, looking Roll straight in the eye. "What harm is there in opening up a credit account? I assure you, if anything happens, a credit account will be suitable. Also, in the odd chance that we do have to use cash, we can pay out of our own pockets." He sighed. "Come on, sis. Just let it go."

"...All right, _maybe_ I was going a little overboard with the Metool," Roll admitted. "But you guys have to realize that I don't want anyone messing with the nest egg. So can you _please_ not go looking for it again?"

"But the first time, Protoman found it by accident," Megaman explained. "This time, we were going to leave it alone until Bass decided to crack into it. The only time when we tried to find it on purpose was when we were trying to put that note on."

"That still doesn't justify why Bass was trying to go into it."

"Well, you know Bass. He's probably going to crack into the entire nest egg the moment he finds it. Which is why we should use credit instead of physical cash." Megaman put a hand on Roll's shoulder. "Come on, Roll! This should've been the moment that proved it to you."

"Well, fortunately, this wasn't the real nest egg," said Roll. "And I trust you haven't found that one yet, right?"

"We haven't. And we're being honest," Megaman affirmed.

"I second that," said Protoman.

"I third it," Tempo added.

"At this point, I don't care anymore," Bass said, with a slight growl in his voice. "Go and hoard your little cash-stash and use it however you want. It's not like you're gonna give back anything you're gonna steal from us."

"Uh, you do realize I haven't stolen anything?" Roll said, annoyed that Bass was accusing her again. "I mean, sure, some people put money in, but other than that, the only contributions to the jar have come from my pocket."

"Whatever!" yelled Bass. "I said I don't care anymore."

"Hm… OK. Do what you want." Roll went back outside, but quickly ran back and stuck her head out the door to make a final point. "Except for searching for the nest egg!" Then she went back outside for good.

Suddenly, Megaman got another comm link. "Hello?" he answered.

"Do pieces of gravel count as natural items?" Elecman said quickly, not even bothering with a "hello" this time.

"What kind of gravel?" Megaman asked.

"The kind you find in industrial areas and stuff like that. I was online with that guy with the guitar, and we had a pretty heated debate over whether or not 200 pieces of gravel would count as 'natural items' - which we still haven't resolved, by the way."

"OK?" Megaman was confused at the direction Elecman was headed in.

"So he was pretty bent on the idea that it does count as natural, because you can find it on the shores of lakes and rivers," Elecman continued. "But then I said that sometimes it can be crushed up from pieces of larger rock by artifical processes."

"So what type of gravel do you plan on using?"

"The kind at the power plant. I figure I can pick up some at work, and then present it to him after I'm done. But I'm not sure whether that gravel is the kind that you find on shorelines, or gets crushed up by machines."

"Too bad you couldn't get a sample straight to us. Maybe Tempo could help you figure it out," Megaman suggested.

"I'll send you a picture of what I mean," Elecman said. "She might be able to tell just from the picture."

"Hey, Tempo, can you come over here for a sec?" Megaman called.

Tempo rushed over to the backyard doorway. "What is it?"

"Look at this picture," Elecman said over the comm link. "Can you tell me if this gravel originally came from a shoreline, or if it came from a rock crusher?"

"It looks like it came from the power plant you work at," Tempo said, not bothering to look closer until she got a better explanation.

"I know, but before it got there, where would it have come from?"

"Why are you so interested in where gravel comes from all of a sudden?" Tempo asked, suddenly curious about Elecman's uncharacteristic interest in gravel.

"There's this guy online that wants to swap a '76 Gibson Explorer for 200 uniform, non-natural, non-monetary items," Elecman explained. "We were debating whether or not the gravel at the power plant would count as 'natural'."

"But why is he swapping it for 200 random things?" Tempo continued. "Why can't you just buy one with real money?"

"Because the prices will likely be jacked to high heaven. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where I can get a good-quality instrument for almost free."

"I think this guy's trying to scam you," Tempo said just before leaving.

"No, he isn't," Elecman insisted. "I met him a few days ago, when I was trying to swap in some paperclips. But he wouldn't accept them because they were linked together, and they had to…" He paused for a brief moment, and directed the conversation back to Megaman. "She's gone, isn't she?"

"I'm afraid so," answered Megaman. "Don't worry. All you can do is either try to use that gravel, or get a different item to trade with."

"I guess that's the only solution," Elecman said. "Oh, well. I'll tell you how it goes, OK?"

"OK. Bye."

"Bye."


	5. Chapter 5

"OK, it looks like this jar has too much money in it to become practical," Megaman said, after observing Roll putting some more money in the nest egg. "Can we _please_ just take it to the bank? Come on. It'll be much easier to manage there." He approached Roll, trying to get her to act on his words. "You won't have to worry about anything happening to it, plus you might be able to get them to add onto it while it's in there."

"OK, Megaman, why can't you just let this whole issue go?" Roll asked hastily. "There is nothing wrong with keeping a nest egg full of money."

"And there's nothing wrong with putting it in the bank, either," Megaman said persistently."I already told you a few reasons why it could prove to be a better idea."

"Not only that, but it might make you less picky about what goes in and comes out," Protoman said, intending not only to add a reason to put the nest egg in the bank, but also to send a message that Roll was being too protective of it.

"Come on, Roll. This is starting to get out of hand," Tempo said, siding with the brothers. "If we just put it in the bank, it'll be easier on all of us."

Roll sent an icy stare to her housemates. "The only way you'll be able to get your hands on this nest egg is if you can pry it from my cold, dead hands," she hissed, clutching the jar tightly.

All of a sudden, a loud "Psst" was heard. Roll whipped around, jar still in her hands. Bass was standing behind her, with a devilish grin on his face. "Pry it out of your hands, you say?" he challenged, grabbing the jar and pulling as hard as he could.

"Yeah… my DEAD hands!" Roll said, attempting to pull the jar back with all of her strength. "So as long as I'm active… and as long as my strength doesn't give out… this thing is staying right here!" She assumed a longer stance, allowing her legs to give her some support.

"We'll see about that," Bass taunted, pulling harder.

"Will you _please_ stop being difficult and let me keep this jar?" Roll yelled, trying to adjust her stance while pulling the jar towards her at the same time.

"Only if you agree to put it in the fricking bank."

"I'm not going to put it in the bank!" Roll remained true to her cause as she maintained her grip on the jar. "What if we can't get to a-" Suddenly, she and Bass both pulled back hard enough to knock themselves over - and also send the jar straight to the ground, shattering it into tiny pieces.

"See what I meant about putting it in the bank?" Bass said, pointing to the pile of money and shattered glass on the floor. "If you hadn't clung so tightly to this stupid jar, this mess wouldn't have happened."

Roll stared at the remains of her nest egg. For a long time, she didn't say anything, just holding a wide-eyed gaze at the mess of coins, bills, and shards of glass on the floor. Finally, she spoke up. "I- I'll get the broom and dust pan," she said, defeated. "Don't touch anything on the floor." She returned a moment later, broom and dust pan in her hands. "Well, there goes a reliable source of money," she sighed, sweeping up the mess.

"Listen. Maybe it's not that bad," Megaman said, trying to console Roll. "If something comes up when we can't get to a bank, we'll all pay out of our own pockets with whatever money we have on hand. If we can't make it, we'll just give them an I.O.U. and pay them when we can get back to the bank. How does that sound?"

"Oh, all right," Roll sighed, handing the dust pan over. "Do what you want with the money. Just be careful when you're trying to sort it out from the glass."

"Hmm… This looks like an awful lot of glass," Tempo noted, trying to count up the pieces in her head. "There's definintely more than 100 pieces here."

"More than 100 pieces…" Suddenly, Megaman had an idea. "Hey. Let's count them. Then if we have enough, we can give them to Elecman."

Tempo liked the idea. She cleared an area at the table, took the dust pan, and separated the money from the glass. Then she and Megaman set to work counting the shards of glass. "How many do you have?" she asked after a few minutes of piece-counting.

"94," Megaman answered.

"I've got 84, so that's gonna get us…" Tempo added the numbers in her head. "...178 pieces. I'll split some of the bigger pieces so we can get to 200." She morphed into her Quake Woman armor and drilled some larger shards so they split into smaller pieces, counting as she went. "All right, we've got enough now," she said as the number reached 200. "Let's call Elecman and give him the news."

"OK, I'm on it." Megaman established a comm link between him and Elecman.

"Hello?" Elecman's voice came in from the other end of the comm link.

"Hey, Elecman. I think we've got something that will help you out," Megaman said confidently.

A little while later, Elecman pulled up at the location where the guitar was up for trade. Megaman was in the passenger seat, holding the glass shards in a paper bag. Both were in their typical civilian attire.

"So this is the place, huh?" Megaman asked.

"Yeah, just gimme a sec," Elecman said, unfastening his seat belt and pulling the keys out of the ignition. "You got the glass?"

"Right here." Megaman handed the bag off to Elecman.

"Thanks." The two got out of the car and went up to the door. Elecman rang the doorbell, which could be heard on the other side of the door.

A few seconds later, the door opened. A man with unkempt blond hair, a black T-shirt, and khaki cargo pants opened the door. "Hello? Oh, it's you again," he said, acting somewhat disgruntled in Elecman's presence. "Trying to give me those paperclips again? Well, it's not gonna work."

"No, I have something different," Elecman said, presenting the seller with the paper bag. "200 shards of broken glass, fresh from an incident that occured at this guy's place." He gestured to Megaman, who was standing beside him.

"Actually, he's making it sound worse than it actually is," Megaman said, laughing at Elecman's phrasing. "A jar full of money broke by accident, and we counted the shards from it, and it added up to 200, so we thought we'd help by giving him the shards."

"Hm." The seller looked in the bag, counting up the shards of glass. "Well, one of my buddies recently got into mosaic making, so I could give him this glass. Thanks for the swap." He opened the door wider. "Now, come on in. I'll show you my side of the deal." He led the two into the basement. Right in the middle of the room was the coveted '76 Gibson Explorer, positioned on a stand next to an amp.

"There it is," Elecman said in awe, slowly stepping up to the guitar.

"Yup," said the seller. "A fine work of craftsmanship, isn't it?"

"Oh… Oh my…" Elecman crouched down, inspecting some of the finer details on the guitar. There were no fingerprints to be found anywhere on the instrument, nor were there any scratches or nicks. It was obvious that the seller wanted to make sure it was presented nicely for the occasion. The strings appeared to be freshly put-on, as were a pair of Duncan humbucker pickups. Even after inspecting the details, Elecman seemed content to keep staring in awe at the guitar, admiring its craftsmanship.

"Well, don't just stare at it," the seller nagged. "Try playing it. I just got it restrung for the occasion."

"Oh… Of course." Elecman plugged the guitar into the nearby amp, picked it up, and tested all of the pickup settings with a few quick scales. He decided that the bridge sounded best on the current setup, so he switched back to the bridge pickups and played C.P.E. Bach's "Solfeggietto". When he seemed satisfied, he was met with applause from Megaman and the seller.

"Wow.. Good job," the seller said, impressed by Elecman's skill.

"Thanks," Elecman answered, bowing his head and unplugging the guitar. "I'll probably switch to a lighter string gauge, though. Awfully hard to get through some of the more intricate stuff with those heavier strings."

"That's all right. You do what you want with it."

"Pleasure doing business with you, sir," Elecman said, packing the guitar into its case and shaking the seller's hand.

"Same to you," the seller responded. "Now you treat that thing well, OK?"

"Got it. Bye!" Elecman and Megaman started back to the car. Once they got in, Elecman asked Megaman where he found the shards of glass.

"Let's just say… we were saving it for when we really needed it," Megaman said, alluding to the nest egg.

"It's from that dumb jar, isn't it?" Elecman said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah. Well, that issue's been resolved, the remains of the jar were used to swap for that guitar, and the money's in the bank where it belongs."

"Good."

Suddenly, Megaman received a comm link. "One sec," he said to Elecman before answering. "Hello?"

"Megaman!" Roll screamed over the phone. "Treble just tore through the fence. We're gonna need some money to fix it. But since we don't have a nest egg-"

"Use the bank account you just made," Megaman said, facepalming. "There's still power, the ATMs are probably all open, and whatever you had to pay will be regained over time. You won't die if there's no physical cash immediately on hand."

"All right. You win," Roll said, finally realizing that the nest egg was mostly useless.

"Thanks. Bye."

"I guess there wasn't any need for that jar after all," Elecman said, turning to Megaman.

"I know, right?" Megaman answered, laughing at what happened back home. The car pulled out of the seller's driveway, and the two began to head home.


End file.
